


By the Roll of a Die

by Charuka13



Category: Just Roll With It (Podcast)
Genre: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Existential Angst, Existential Crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25264954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charuka13/pseuds/Charuka13
Summary: Br'aad gets a visit that he'd rather avoid, but the knowledge he gains it might himself destroy
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	By the Roll of a Die

The tavern was filled with energy. Laughter erupted as a drunken tabaxi collapsed on the floor, having just fabulously lost against an even drunker dwarf in an arm wrestling match. The dwarf was now drunkenly speaking in a tongue most definitely not dwarven, but no one seemed to pay any mind.

A lavender tiefling struggled to pick up the tabaxi, attempting to move him to the booth where her friends where sitting. The dwarf screamed with excitement in his drunken stupor, already challenging someone else to test their strength against him.

“Taxi,” the tiefling was fanning the recovering tabaxi, “why on earth did you think you could beat Mountain? By the gods, Br’aad is stronger than you.” The others at the table were laughing hysterically.

Br’aad relished in the moment. He had his brother laughing at his side, finally acting like himself in what felt like eons. He had everything he could’ve wanted. In his own way…he was at peace.

The clock in the back of the tavern began ringing as midnight was upon them. No one in the tavern seemed to pay mind, if anything growing louder and louder. Br’aad feigned downing his fruity drink in hopes that in his race against tabaxi would get him drunker than he had ever been.

As he was ridiculing his companion, he noticed that the clock was still ringing well past twelve. As he looked back at the clock, he noticed the people around him slowing down ever so slightly. Second by second they were gradually freezing in time. Br’aad’s heart sunk. He turned to his friends, but no one was there. No table, no booths, no friends.

Br’aad just up from the seat, ready to run. Before he could, however, an unnatural force forced him back in the chair. Unseen shackles held him down, growing stronger the more he resisted.

“Come now my child,” the familiar voiced filled every inch of the room, “isn’t it a bit too soon for you to be leaving? You’ve only just arrived.” A low laughter engrossed the room as a tall man walked into the light. His red velvet tux glimmered in the iridescent light, smooth and effervescent. His walk was unnaturally graceful, his eyes empty of any life.

“Why won’t you just leave me alone you bastard!” Br’aad’s voice was cracking, even more than usual. He continued to struggle against his invisible bonds which only grew tighter against his skin. “I don’t give a flying fuck about whatever game you’re trying to play, just leave me and my friends the fuck alone!”

Ob’noxshai chuckled at the display. “Oh my dear boy, I didn’t bring you here to play a game.” He begins walking towards Br’aad, slow and deliberate.He begins to circle the chair as he speaks to Br’aad again. “I was just coming to deliver some news.”

“Whatever you have to say I don’t-” before the words could leave his lips, silence filled the room. His mouth was moving but no words came out.

“Oh my boy, you’ll really want to hear this.” A demonic smile creeped across his face. His fingers walked up the half-elf’s arm as he almost sang. “You see.. You. Don’t. Ex. Ist! Boop.” He tapped on Br’aad’s nose on the final syllable, narrowly missing the bite that followed suit.

Br’aad found his voice again. “What in the right fuck are you on?” Br’aad said as his face contorted into great confusion.

“You heard me right. You don’t exist. Your friends don’t exist. _I_ don’t exist. Everything in this world doesn’t exist.” He waves his hands around. “It’s actually quite amusing when you think about it”

Br’aad’s eyes stay fixed on the god, now filled with anger. “You’ve got to be kidding. Of all the things you think to tell me, _this_ is the best that you can think of?” there’s almost a hint of laughter in his voice.

Ob stares back at Br’aad, his grin unwavering. “Oh I wish I was lying, but it’s all true. We only exist for the pleasure and entertainment of a select few. Six in total. You could think of them as gods of sorts, but that’s giving them too much credit to be honest.” He waves his hand, and six silhouettes appear in front of the table, all sitting around a table. “You see,” he began, “these six are playing a game of sorts. One of them controls the world, and the other five react as they believe their characters would.” He waves his hand again, and five statuettes appear. They look familiar to Br’aad. He looks closer, and realizes hat they’re of his friends…and of him.

The god walks around the table and continues his eloquent soliloquy. “We only actually exist within their minds. Without them, we would be nothing.” He picks up a statuette, that of Taxi’s likeness. “The head of the group made this whole world, and already knows how it shall end. Every move you’ve made, every thought you’ve had, every memory you’ve made,” He rests his hand on the head of the siloutte he stole the Taxi figure from, “Exists solely in the mind of one of these six. Nothing you’ve ever done has been of your own accord.”

He sets the figurine down and walks to the silhouette without a statuette. “This one,” his hands grab the temples of the sillouette, “This one is the worst. Every miserable thing that ever happened in yours and every one of your lives has been due to him. The King’s rampage. The abysmal state of the wharf, the ship that let you meet your friends, that little incident with your brother,” he smiles as he remembers the last one, “All of it were the machinations of this lovely fellow. And you want to know the worst of it? Of course you do!” Ob walks over to Br’aad and leans in close. “All of it was dictated by the roll of a die.” His grin was so twisted at this point as he brought his hand to eye level, revealing a twenty sided die.

The god waves his hand and everything but the chair and invisible restraints disappear. “Now you must be wondering, why would I be telling you all of this? Well I’ll give you an answer.” He sits across Br’aad’s lap and squishes the half-elf’s cheeks with one hand. “Telling you about this will be much more entertaining than any game I could ever think of. Ironic isn’t it.” He laughs as he gets out of Br’aad’s lap. “And before you start going off about how none of this could be true, ask yourself some questions. Stuff like, what’s the name of the continent your on?” He turns to look at Br’aad.

Br’aad goes to speak, but as he thinks he realizes he can’t remember. Ob’s grin grows even wider. “See, it’s not that you can’t remember, it’s that _they don’t know_.” He motions to where the table once was. “Go on, ask yourself, what was it like when you first met the Rat King? When did you and Sylnan begin stealing?” Ob starts to slowly walk towards Br’aad, his voice gradually getting louder. “What was the name of the orphanage you grew up in? Name more than one child from the orphanage?!”

Br’aad continued to stammer, not once being able to give a single answer. He raked his brain to give a single answer, but before he could even try and formulate an answer, he was interrupted by Ob’noxshai’s hands slamming onto his own.

“Fine! I’ll give you an easy one! Why did you decided to make a pact with a god?! Huh?! Surely you should remember that!” He screamed, his quiete literally spreading from ear to ear. 

Tears began to pool in Br’aad’s eyes as not a single word will leave his lips. He wanted to deny it. He wanted to deny everything. But even so, why couldn’t he remember anything?

“Oh this is going to be just so. Much. Fun!” He flicked Br’aad’s forehead, the force so strong that it knocked the chair back, crashing to the floor.

Br’aad opened his eyes, frantically looking around as he breathed heavily. He was back in the tavern, everything still loud and boisterous. He looked around and saw his friends, all looking at him with worried looks. He saw his brother, and scrambled to his feet to embrace him in a tight hug. Tears fell from his eyes without his permission as he hopelessly, oh so hopelessly tried to deny the questions that still echoed in his head.


End file.
